Well Met By Moonlight (Oneshot)
by accrossoverficwriter363
Summary: River Song meets the Twelfth Doctor for the first time.


**Title**: "Well Met By Moonlight"

**Author**: jackdavfan692

**Rating**: PG-13

**Warnings**: None

**Summary**: The first meeting between River and the Twelfth Doctor

**Characters/Pairings**: The Doctor (12)/River

**Spoilers**: Except for one event in "The Wedding Of River Song" (the wedding that might-not-actually-have-been a wedding, depending on your view about the ceremony atop the pyramid) and the events of "The Angels Take Manhattan", not much, unless you _still_ haven't found out that Matt Smith will be bowing out as the Doctor at Christmas, and don't know who his successor is going to be.

**Notes**: A bit of opening dialogue I imagined for Twelve's and River's first meeting refused to get out of my head, so I wrote this little one-shot around it.

**Disclaimer**: _Doctor Who_ is currently in the care of Steven Moffat

Ever since River had received a pardon, her life had been taken up by occupational responsibilities. This had, as a result, made it difficult to continue having regularly scheduled date nights, so save for an essentially accidental meeting in 1930's New York that ended up being fraught with loss, River and the Doctor had seen very little of one another recently. River had, therefore, been pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation to go on a nighttime outing with him. Having neither evening plans of her own, nor any currently pressing responsibilities, River had promptly replied that she would love to, and now waited expectantly on her doorstep for the Doctor to arrive. The instant that River heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS landing, she walked eagerly in the direction the noise was coming from, then stopped once she had reached the likely spot upon which the TARDIS would materialize, and waited for her husband to emerge.

River cut short her customary greeting of 'Hello Sweetie' before the first word of it even left her lips, and drew in a sharp intake of breath as the Doctor stepped out into the moonlight. She knew his appearance would change _one_ day, but she was still caught mildly off guard by it, due in no small part to not having seen him for awhile. After she recovered from her initial surprise, River took an opportunity to get a better look at him. Gone was the deceptively young-looking, gangly, awkward man she'd grown to love and had spent most of her time with. In his place stood a proper "silver fox", and what a magnificent sight he was— all maturity and distinction, with a tall, lean build that belied the age implied by his almost completely silver hair and the lines on his face & around his eyes. The dark charcoal gray suit he was wearing (without a tie, River noticed with some interest) _further_ accentuated the appealingly contradictory picture his appearance provided— that of a man of some years, but who _still_ possessed a substantial amount of vigor and energy.

Once his wife had finished looking him over, the Doctor flashed a flirtatiously roguish smile, and in an audibly Scottish-accented voice, said, "Hello, River."

"Well hello there." she replied as she walked toward him elegantly. The tone of her voice and the expression on her face told the Doctor _all_ he needed to know about what she thought of his new form, and his smile, _already_ quite confident, grew even _more_ so.

As River looked him up and down approvingly, she asked, "Did you dress up just for me?"

"Yes, I did." he answered.

"You did a _wonderful_ job." River complimented as she ran her hands leisurely down the length of the lapels of his suit jacket, which he'd only left partially buttoned. River half-expected him to start squirming at any moment, as he had nearly always done before, but to her pleased surprise, he did nothing of the sort. He seemed to _welcome_ the physical intimacy, in fact, a notable contrast to what his previous response to it had tended to be, at least initially— flailing arms and intense nervousness. The man who now stood before her did _neither_, not even when River moved her hands from his suit jacket to his chest and then up, in preparation to give him a kiss. The Doctor surprised River _further_ when _he _initiated the gesture, rather than waited for her to do so.

As he looked down at River and took her face in his hands, he said, "As did _you_, darling."

Just before he bent his face down to kiss her, River caught his gaze, in which she was _certain_ she saw just the _smallest_ glint of devilish charm in his eyes. She smiled to herself at the observation, pleased that this new form of her husband was just as much of a rogue as she was, and as willing to express his affection in a physical manner.

Once the Doctor had finished kissing her, River replied with a smile, "Thank you, dear. I _do _know how much you love this dress."

"I most certainly do." The Doctor said as he put his hands around her waist and pulled her closer to him. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, I am." River answered, putting her arms around his shoulders briefly.

"Then let's be off." The Doctor declared, removing his hands from around her waist and hooking his right arm around her left one.

As the full moon rose higher in the sky, the couple, arm in arm, walked to the TARDIS, then disappeared through its doors to depart on an adventure-filled date.


End file.
